Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1887-10-14

a.
dearest ambitions. Woman, who belongs
to the sensible sex, who has no Illusions. and
tears away the vail without remorsc and
disperses the golden MIST permits herself to
say such things Bethiah knew the boy S
dreams and loved to hear them; yet She
knew also, or thought she knew the trihing
commercial value of those MSS. which filled
his desk, and therefore she said. Poems
and stories and things.
"Of course. " the boy replied, 81 know
very well that at first | may not he success
| full Then | must wait in patience ami
work. | can live on very little. shall
| 70 to one of the cheap boarding houses
where they charge five dollars a week. One
| poem a week-they could not offer less than
| five dollars for poem I'm essay now and
then-a short tale occaSionaly-one of those
that YOU like so much--a sketch of some
| thing or other. dashed on-oh. ! could live
very easily
"Well: but could you persuade editors
to take one poem a week? Don't think,
! Xiph for he changed color-Don't think. g
She repeated earnestly. THAT | do not
| like your poems. | am sure they are
beautiful Many poems, not much better,
are published every week in our own paper.
oh, Bethiah mot much better" Iiph
chollcd but repressed himself "And yet
! fear thlt you may not get a poem taken
every week. And if you wish to rise You
must always lee learning to write better and
better and so be lifted above The first any
ittios for a livelihood
"Ncll-ii fnd any difficulties ! shall
become journalist 1t, step down. hut
etilj it is literature
IL You are going to be a journalist &c the
Girl insisted. "vGy go to New York at uls
Why not begin here. right away On
there's Salem, where your father came FROM
and where you've got cousins. Why NOT
begin in Salem. which isn't full of wicked
ness, like New YorkY'
"No,' said the boy. ~ must 60 to Now
York. In Salem should be buried forever.
| 1t is only in New York that a man cam
! spack so as to he heard all over the Amer
lean continent and across the ocean as well.
| want "A worldwide fame" Here y,
| hlushed and stammcred. and stopped for q
moment, because he was ashamed even tu
speak of his own ambitions. 81 want q
world wide fame" he repeated after gulp.
II can he satisfied with nothing short of
that. | want to speak 10 all the ends oi the
earth. Nobody knows except You. Every
! body would laugh at me il they knew
IL shall never laugh at you Iiph " This
| girl was younger than himself yet the lad
contided in her, asked her advice. AMI was
to some extent guided 10y her You have
heard what manner of girl She was 50 that
! You will not asI, how this could Ice.
| "Wcll, thcn-you know already what
/ think. How can people 20 on living in
| such a place Us this 1t l., small and mean
and ugly. and the people are ignorant aud
conceited and stupid In books we read
that is, you and | read none of the
! others do-about art and society and all the
splendid things that 90 ON, but here we see
none of them-we don't belong to the real
world, the civilized world that has taken ST.
many years to build, -
I'VE read of it. Xiph Does not tina;
content you? 70 he sure we cannot go and
| live in London, if that is what You want.
! But we are quite as well Off rs other Amer
lean citizens We make our own culture,
and every body says it is much deeper and
more real than the ariStocratic valnish of
| Europe"
And we read about great men. but We
! never see any of them. Here they are all
! little men. Yesterday | was in the cemetery
! looking at the tombs How many hundred
! lie there Vet not one--uo-not one--Who
wa, ever known outside his native plac, on
| will he remembered when his children are
/ dead. iowlcan they 20 on ronrentcd to
| he 50 OBSCURE
The lad had often talked in th, way hc-
| fore. But his talk had more meaning in it
now that he was going to cast himself upon
| the world.
Bethiah, who wa, neither AN Icuurtir nor
| an atheist, fastened t. administer, or ut
! least to exhibit, the consultations of religion.
"Ne-ycs,' the boy replied douhttully,
/ a. if he would like to have in addition IL
the harp and crown, the remembrance and
! the contemplation Of world wide fame.
/ Indeed one cannot but feel as if the great
soul OF Shakespeare himself must derive
! continually fresh Gratitcation from the re
! ports daily dropping III OF his continued
! fame. \ Glorihed person whose mortal re-
mains lie IN the Tower flamlets Cemetery
, or that of East Finchloy cannot have this
! satisfaction.
But Vet -- ola, 70 feel that one ha> lived
to some purpose. and has made mark upon
| his generation. and is talked about wherever
! the English language i, spoken ami vii
not be forgotten when the breath i, out %.
| his body, why, he stopped and gu,l,rd
always fame and distinction, Ziph. -
said the girl That is all You think about
Would it not he better to feel that youi
work has been good work well done, whether
you have won fame or whether You have
remained obscure Then you would lie with
| the assurance. ---'
You talk as if everybody was AWAY,
| going to chruch, the boy interrupted i'm.
patiently. "Why, to do good work and
vet miss fame-One would rather-nht
stopped, because on this girls ears tn ,cu.
| turut in his mind would have sound. If'-a